International Comparison of Teamwork in Auto Plants
Interview Guide 1: Team Members

[Note that this is an interview guide, and not a questionnaire. We
did, in other words, pursue an open-ended strategy and covered some
areas of the guide more thoroughly in some interviews than in other
interviews. Sequence could also vary a lot, according to the way the
responses developed.]

2. QUESTIONS ABOUT THE JOB
2-1. How long have you worked for this company?
2-2. How long have you worked for this specific plant?
2-3. Why did you choose to work for this company?
2-4. What is your present job classification?
2-5. For how long have you had this job classification?
2-6. What do you like the best about your job?
2-7. What do you like the best about working for the company?
2-8. What do you like the least about your job?
2-9. What do you like the least about working for the company?
2-10. Do you plan to work at your present job for years to come?
2-11. Given a chance, would you like to change your job in the
future?
2-12. If you had a son or daughter looking for a job, would you advice
him or her to try and get a job like the one you have?
2-14. Have you worked for other companies before?
(A) How many times have you changed jobs since graduating from
school?
(B) What kind of companies did you work for?
(C) How was it to work for those companies, as compared to this
one?
2-15. Have you ever experienced a layoff?
(A) At this company?
(B) At previous companies?
2-16. Are you working the day shift, the night shift, or are you
switching beteen the two?
2-17. What are the regular working hours for your shift?
2-18. How many days did you work last month?
2-19. And how many days did you work on a holiday last month?
2-20. May we ask how many days were you been absent from work last
month, and for what reasons?
2-21. How many hours did you work overtime last month?
2-22. What do you think of overtime? Do you have too much or too
little?

3. QUESTIONS ABOUT WAGES AND JOB CHANGE WITHIN COMPANY
3-1. What are your wages right now?
(A) How much money did you make, including overtime compensation, last
month?
(B) How much of your total earnings last month was overtime compensation?
(C) What types of benefits are there at the company?
3-2. Is there a merit system, pay-for-knowledge or some other system
where people get higher wages, get promoted, or get various advantages
according to how they work?
(A) How does it work?
(B) What do you think of it?
3-3. After you got a job in this company, did you ever change
position? For example team change, shift change, or a promotion? If you
have had any such changes, please tell us when and how they occured.
(A) team change:
(B) shift change:
(C) promotion:
3-4. Could you choose where you were next going to work in the
company?
3-5. Did seniority or length of service have any effect on your job
change?
3-6. Did achievements or results so far have any effect on your job
change?

4. TEAM
4-1. How long is the cycle time or the takt time?
4-2. Do you use the concept 'standardized work' (or similar)?
(A) Can you explain how it is done?
4-3. If possible, please draw and show us an outline of your team
area, the function of each machine and the placement of each worker.
4-4. How many positions does your team have?
(A) How many different job classifications are there within the team,
and how many persons of each kind are there?
(B) How many positions in the team can you handle?
(C) Can everybody in the team handle each and every position within
the team, or are there any job classification or training requirements
thta have to be met in order to handle certain positions?
(D) How many are men, and how many are women?
4-5. How long have you been a member of your current team?
4-6. What is, more or less, the average age of the team members?
4-7. Does your team have any temporary workers, and if so, how
many?
4-8. Who decides the work tasks and position of each worker?
4-9. If you ever have had any trouble with a machine, what did you do
at that time? Did you fix the machine trouble by yourself, or did you
ask a maintenance worker to come?
4-10. Do you have job rotation in your team?
(A) How do you do it?
(B) How often do you switch tasks within the team?
(C) How were you trained to do these tasks?
(D) Do you have an organized system for becoming 'multi-functional',
'multi-skilled',or something similar?
4-11. What kind of training have you yourself completed?
4-12. How long would you say it takes to learn how to do your present
job (work tasks) properly?
4-13. How long would you say it takes to learn 'everything there is to
know' about working at your workplace?
4-14. Please imagine a case where your team doesn't have too many
tasks to do, while there is at the same time a very busy division
somewhere else in the plant:
(A) Could your plant move workers to a busy division?
(B) What do you call such a work force movement?
(C) Does your plant have any written rules to regulate such a work
force movement?

5. TEAM LEADER
5-1. How is the team leader chosen:
(A) Is he or she chosen by the company, or elected by the team
members?
(B) If he or she is elected, could you please explain how this
election takes place?
(C) If he or she is elected, for how long time is this person
elected?
5-2. Do you know how long your team leader has been working:
(A) in the company?
(B) in the plant?
(C) in the team?
5-3. Do you know what his or her job was:
(A) before becoming a team leader?
(B) before starting to work for the company?
5-4. We have some more questions about your team leader:
(A) Is it a man or a woman?
(B) How old is he or she?
(C) What kind of education does he or she have?
(D) Is it a white person or a minority person?

5-5. ('SUB-TEAM' LEADER). Is your team is divided into even smaller
units ('sub-teams')? If it is, we would like to ask similar questions
about the sub-team and its leader:
(A) How many persons are there in the sub-team?
(B) How is the sub-team leader chosen:
(C) Do you know how long your sub-team leader has been working in the
company, in the plant, and in the sub-team?
(D) Do you know what his or her job was before becoming a sub-team
leader and before starting to work for the company?
(E) Is it a man or a woman?
(F) How old is he or she?
(G) What kind of education does he or she have?
(H) Is it a white person or a minority person?

5.6. ('GROUP' LEADER). What is the term for the level above team? Is
it 'group'? We would like to ask similar questions about the group and
its leader:
(A) How many persons are there in the group?
(B) How is the group leader chosen:
(C) Do you know how long your group leader has been working in the
company, in the plant, and in the sub-team?
(D) Do you know what his or her job was before becoming a group leader
and before starting to work for the company?
(E) Is it a man or a woman?
(F) How old is he or she?
(G) What kind of education does he or she have?
(H) Is it a white person or a minority person?

6. TEAM WORK
6-1. Do you think that there is a difference between how you
understand team work and the way the company explains it?
6-2. On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you assess the following
aspects of team work:
(A) leadership of the team leader?
(B) work load for the team members?
(C) decision power of the team?
(D) the way the team is knit together 'as a team'?
6-3. Have you ever helped a fellow team member when he or she was in
trouble:
(A) in the case they couldn't finish their task within the cycle
time?
(B) in the case of submitting improvement suggestions?
(C) privately?
6-4. Have you ever received help from a fellow team member when you
were in trouble:
(A) in the case you couldn't finish your task within the cycle
time?
(B) in the case of submitting improvement suggestions?
(C) privately?
6.5. Do you spend time with fellow team members outside work?

7. QC CIRCLES (OR THE EQUIVALENT)
7-1. Do you have QC (Quality Control) circles or some other similar
activities at the plant?
7-2. If you have participated in such activites, please tell us how it
was carried out:
(A) What were the subjects?
(B) Who was the leader?
(C) How many members were ther?
(D) Were the members the same as the people in your team?
(E) How often were the meetings?
(F) For how long did the meetings last?
(G) Was it (and is it) obligatory to participate? In a case where you
didn't participate and didn't have any reasonable excuse, what would
happen to you?
7-3. If you have a manual or a collection of examples from the
activities, can you please show these to us?
7-4. What do you think of such activities? Are you:
(A) Positive?
(B) Indifferent?
(C) Negative?

8. SUGGESTION SYSTEM/'KAIZEN' (OR EQUIVALENT)
8-1. Do you have a suggestion system, 'kaizen' activities, or similar
at the plant?
8-2. Are there any quotas on the number of suggestions?
(A) How many per month?
(B) How many per year?
8-3. Are there any kind of rewards for such suggestions?
8-4. Was it (and is it) obligatory to participate? In a case where you
didn't participate and didn't have any reasonable excuse, what would
happen to you?
8-5. Are there any subjets that you are 'not allowed' to discuss?
8-6. Do you ever do paperwork connected to this program at home?
8-7. If you have a manual or a collection of examples from the
activities, can you please show these to us?
8-8. What do you think of such activities? Are you:
(A) Positive?
(B) Indifferent?
(C) Negative?

9-A. UNION (UNIONIZED PLANT)
9A-1. How do you express your opinion about your team or other
problems? Who do you go to first:
(A) fellow team members?
(B) the team leader?
(C) the group leader?
(D) the union shop steward/coordinator?
9A-2. How will it be accepted, or what is the response, when you voice
your opinion about something:
(A) within the team?
(B) to the team leader?
(C) to the group leader?
(D) to the union shop steward/coordinator?
9A-3. Have you ever filed a grievance?
(A) What was the grievance about?
(B) What was the procedure at that time?
9A-4. Ranking from number 1 to number 3, what do you think is the most
important factor for your union:
(A) wages?
(B) job security
(C) job enrichment?
(D) shorter working hours?
(E) health care?
(F) pensions?
9A-5. Do you agree with these priorities?
9A-6. What do you think of the seniority rule and how it is handled?
9A-7. How do you feel about the union: Are you:
(A) Positive?
(B) Indifferent?
(C) Negative?
9A-8. On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you evaluate the activities
of present union officers?
9A-9. Is there a union paper? Do you read it?
9A-10. Have you ever been a union officer, such as a shop steward or
something like that?
9A-11. Given the chance, would you like to become a union officer in
the near future?
9A-12. How many workers are represented by one shop steward?
9A-13. What do you think, in general, about the relationship between
union and management here?
9A-14. Are there any social events, like for example picnics, on a
plant level?

9-B. UNION (NON-UNION PLANT)
9B-1. How do you express your opinion about your team or other
problems? Who do you go to first:
(A) fellow team members?
(B) the team leader?
(C) the group leader?
9B-2. How will it be accepted, or what is the response, when you voice
your opinion about something:
(A) within the team?
(B) to the team leader?
(C) to the group leader?
9B-3. Ranking from number 1 to number 3, what do you think is the most
important factor for your job:
(A) wages?
(B) job security
(C) job enrichment?
(D) shorter working hours?
(E) health care?
(F) pensions?
9B-4. Are the rules using the seniority or 'length of service'
principle, and what do you in case think of them?
9B-5. How do you feel about a union. Are you:
(A) Positive?
(B) Indifferent?
(C) Negative?
9B-6. Have you ever worked in a unionized plant?
(A) What is the most different aspect when comparing a unionized and a
non-union plant?
9B-7. What do you think about the relationship between workers and
management here?
9B-8. Are there any social events, like for example picnics, on a
plant level?

10. PERSONAL VIEWS
10-1. May we ask what's on your mind these days:
(A) job?
(B) family?
(C) life after retirement?
(D) other things?
10-2. What do you think of American society? How is it structured?
10-3. How do you conceive your position and place in American society,
when compared to for example:
(A) people in other parts of the country?
(B) people of other occupational groups (for example managers,
university professors, homeless people)